Wasting no time, Sherry ran towards the front door and yanked the ax free. She wedged the handle between her thighs and proceeded to saw through the ropes binding her wrists. The rough material chaffed her skin, but by the time she cut through the bindings, the scratches had healed. Sherry jammed her hands into her various pockets in hopes of finding her phone. After coming up empty handed, she searched the cabin for any other means of communication. There was an old telephone attached to the wall in the make-shift kitchen, but only silence greeted her when she pressed it to her ear.
Returning to the bathroom, Sherry rooted around in her assailant's pockets, her fingers closing around a small disposable cell phone. Her first instinct was to call Jake, but he was somewhere overseas and she didn't want their first conversation in months to be a plead for help. Claire was the next best choice, so Sherry punched her number in and moved towards the fire to warm up her freezing toes.
"Hello?" Claire greeted cautiously.
"Claire, it's Sherry! I need help," Sherry exclaimed, chastising herself for sounding so panicked.
"Oh, thank God! We've all been worried sick. Where are you?"
"I don't know, somewhere in the woods. I'll explain it all later, but I don't think I have much time. The guy who abducted me was working for someone else, and they may be heading to my location."
"Okay, can you describe anything about where you are?"
"It's an old cabin in the middle of the woods. I was unconscious for a while, but we probably walked two miles once I was awake, so this place is at least two miles in from a road. That's all I know."
"Alright, we'll start searching what areas nearby match that description. Can you get away from where you're being held?"
Sherry bit her lip and looked down at her bare legs. "I knocked the guy out, so if I steal his pants and boots, I can probably try to backtrack towards the road. There is fresh snow on the ground, so if I follow our trail, it should work," she explained.
"Yes, do that then. Stay on the line and we'll try to get a track on your signal."
"Okay, I'm going to put the phone down and get dressed."
Sherry undressed the man quickly, taking his pants, socks, and boots along with a thick scarf. After bundling herself up, Sherry grabbed the ax and cell phone.
"Claire? I'm ready," she announced, pausing by the front door.
"Okay, I'm going to stay on the line with you. Chris is gearing up to head out with Leon and Jill the second we have a ping on your location. It's going to be okay."
Pulling the door of the cabin open, Sherry took a cautious step outside. Everything was quiet, except for the slight crunching of snow.
"Claire, they're already here," she announced, tightening her grip on the ax. "I can take them. Hang on." Sherry got the drop on the figures heading towards her in the dark. The ax was sharp and made quick work of the task. "I'm back. It's the same people who abducted me and Jake in China." She crushed the white mask with the heel of her stolen boot.
"Jake won't be happy about that. He's on his way, you know. Hopped the first flight out of whatever backwater town he was hunkered down in," Claire informed her. Sherry leaned against a tree, her stomach flip flopping at the thought of seeing Jake again.
"I hope you didn't worry him."
"He worried himself just fine. He hardly let me explain the situation before booking a flight. Chris would have used his contacts with the BSAA, but Jake was faster."
"Oh. Well, he has a long flight ahead of him. Hopefully I'll be home in time to at least take a shower," Sherry joked weakly.
She trudged on through the snow, keeping up the small talk with Claire until they got a pinpoint of her location. The cell phone was nearly dead, so Sherry hung up with Claire to save the last bit of battery.
The woods were beautiful in the pale moonlight; the snow made it look like the ground was covered with a fine dusting of crystals. Sherry's mind drifted to what she would say to Jake when they finally reunited. She would start out with an apology, humble and sincere before moving on to the more uncomfortable admission of her feelings for him.
A branch snapped behind her, and Sherry spun while dropping to the ground. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but she couldn't see anything following her. She waited for a few moments to catch her breath and make sure that there were no other masked assailants following her. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, so she trusted her instincts and began to run.
"Folks, this is your captain speaking. We are preparing to make our final descent, so please return to your seats. If you were dreaming of a white Christmas, your wish came true."
Rosey patted Jake on the arm and smiled warmly at him. "Thank you for your help, Jake. I think this is a good length, don't you think?" she asked, winding the scarf around his neck.
"Yeah, it's perfect."
As the plane finally began to decrease altitude, Jake stared out the window and tried to think about how he could find Sherry. He had been out of communication with Claire and Chris Redfield for the entirety of his flight, and he hoped that they would have some news once he could turn his phone back on.
The planes wheels bounced against the tarmac and a light smattering of applause sounded throughout the plane. The once-silent plane was filled with a cacophony of seatbelts unbuckling, cell phones powering on, and boisterous conversations. Rosey snipped her yarn and wove in the tail, smiling in appreciation of her hard work.
Jake wished he had a badge to flash to get him to the front of the pack, but he had declined Chris's initial offer to join the BSAA. He didn't like the idea of having to answer to anyone, especially Redfield, so he assisted on a few ops as a civilian consultant instead.
"Honey, help me up to the front, would you?" Rosey asked, gripping Jake's arm. He looked up to find a flight attendant waiting patiently with a wheelchair.
"Of course," Jake answered, helping to ease her into the chair. He grabbed his duffel bag from beneath his seat and hooked her knitting bag with the other arm.
"We already have her carry-on," the flight attendant informed him with a smile. Jake nodded and followed Rosey towards the front of the plane. They got some angry looks from the other impatient passengers, but Jake couldn't help but grin at the old lady's ploy.
A loud crashing followed Sherry, accompanied by frenzied shouts and screams. She zigzagged through the dense forest, her heart pounding against her chest before she came to a stop behind a tree with a wide base. Panting, she held the ax at chest level and listened. When the first bullet zipped through her abdomen, a loud gasp slipped through her lips. Frantically, Sherry whipped her head around in a desperate attempt to locate where the shot came from.
Intent on finding cover, Sherry stumbled forward and pressed a hand to her bleeding belly as the next shot tore through her left shoulder. Turning, she saw the sickly visage of the man who abducted her, a gun thrust ahead of him as he fired off two more rounds.
Sherry fell to the ground, grunting as her head thumped against a fallen tree. The man was on her in an instant, a knife flashing in the moonlight as he slammed it against her chest. She cried out in pain as he yanked the knife downwards, slicing through her sweater and flesh alike. Warm red blood spilled onto her skin, chilling instantly in the icy cold of the night.
"You fucking bitch! You think you can escape me?!" he growled.
She barely felt his hands groping her, the knife nicking her flesh with each movement. The ax had slipped from her hand, the bullet that pierced her shoulder likely damaging some nerves in its travels. Thrusting her knee upwards, Sherry used her good arm to slam her palm into the man's already broken nose. As he screamed in pain, she reached for the man's knife and thrust it into his throat, her body screaming from the effort. Blood gushed from his neck with each beat of his heart, until he collapsed onto the red-stained snow.
With shaking hands, Sherry probed her wounds and cried out in the dark. Her healing ability had its limits, and she could still die from bleeding out before her body sealed up the four bullet holes and giant gash down her torso. With shaking hands, she systematically checked the holes in her body. The wound to her stomach had closed, and Sherry hoped that any internal damage was repaired. Noting that she had more mobility with her left arm, she deduced that her wounds were healing in order.
Blood still pooled from the gash down her torso, so Sherry rolled onto her stomach, hoping the pressure of her body would stop some of the bleeding. With shaking hands, she pulled out the phone from her pocket.
Her hands were slick and bloody, but she managed to dial Jake's number. Her vision blurred as she listened to his voicemail greeting, and it seemed like an eternity before she heard the beep to leave a message.
"Jake," she gasped, "I'm hurt. Worse than I've ever been. There's so much blood. I just wanted to call…in case. Jake, I'm so sorry...for everything. I was…scared and unable to process what I was feeling. I miss you so much and I haven't stopped thinking…about you. I'm here, waiting for you…wherever I am. Jake, I…"
Sherry slid into unconsciousness, the phone dropping from her fingers and disappearing into the snow.
Rosey had Jake wheel her to the exit of the airport and she giggled with delight upon seeing the snow falling. Her family was waiting for her in front of a large SUV and Jake felt a pang of loneliness in his heart. Rosey hugged her good-looking children and planted kisses on her grandchildren's cheeks, leaving Jake awkwardly holding her knitting bag.
Eager to contact Claire, Jake handed the bag off to one of the family members and called out a goodbye to Rosey.
"Jake, wait!" She waved him back over reached into her knitting bag. "I want you to have this." She wrapped the scarf she had knitted for her nephew around his neck.
"Mom, we need to go," one of the men said impatiently. Rosey ignored him and patted Jake on the cheek.
"I hope that whoever she is, that she is okay and knows how lucky she is," she said softly. Jake hadn't told her much about Sherry, but he guessed that her woman's intuition filled in the blanks.
"Thanks, Rosey," Jake grinned, pulling the old woman in for a hug. "I hope they know how lucky they are to have you, too."
Jake called Claire and paced in front of the airport until she answered and told him a driver was waiting for him. He would head to the nearest helipad where a waiting helicopter would take him to Sherry's location.
Upon hanging up with Claire, he noticed he had a voicemail. He listened to it during the drive, his entire body tensing upon hearing the fear in Sherry's voice. During their time in China, he had never heard her sound so scared. Jake pressed his hands together, trying to stop them from shaking as his imagination filled his head with terrifying thoughts.
Leon, Chris, and Jill were forced to rappel from their helicopter when a storm system moved in over Sherry's location. The wind whipped them around during their descent, and all three were happy to be on solid ground again.
"Claire said this storm is likely to turn into a blizzard, so we need to find Sherry and get out of here," Chris announced, shouting over the howling wind. Jill took point, heading towards the GPS coordinates where Sherry's cell phone had pinged. They crunched through the snow quickly, reaching the coordinates in a half hour.
"I don't get it, where is she?" Leon barked, holding his arms out. Chris tried to call Claire while Jill pulled out a pair of binoculars.
"It's faint, but there is a trail of footprints ahead through those trees," she announced. "Someone must have chased Sherry from this location."
Cursing, Chris shoved his phone in his pocket. "I can't get a call to go through. The signal here is shit," he reported, following Jill's lead. The footsteps had already begun to fill with fresh snow, but they knew they were on the right trail when splatters of bright red blood stained the otherwise pristine white.
"Sherry!" Leon called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to make his voice travel. They paused, listening for a response before continuing to move forward. The trio systematically moved through the trees, calling and waiting for a response.
"Wait!" Chris said, stopping abruptly. "Sherry?"
A whimper was all they heard in response, and the three charged towards the source. They found Sherry propped up against a felled tree, her arms wrapped around her torso protectively.
"Son of a bitch," Leon spat, dropping to his knees to lift Sherry from the icy cold ground.
"It might not be as bad as it looks," Chris said, trying to sound reassuring.
"We need to get her temperature up and she might need a blood transfusion. Let's try to find that cabin that Sherry found."